Eugen Sandow was usually touted because the strongest and most totally developed man on the planet from his start in 1889 till his demise in 1925. The thought of being robust like Sandow was one which many individuals tried to emulate, and for a lot of strongmen of his period, beating the revered health idol in some type of competitors was usually the last word objective.
The one drawback was that Sandow hardly ever, if ever, competed in weightlifting competitions. When he achieved the title of the world’s strongest man within the early Eighteen Nineties, he protected his picture in any respect prices. When strongman Arthur Saxon promoted himself as the person to beat Sandow in a match, Sandow went after him in courtroom. And when Quebecois strongman Louis Cyr challenged him to a match, Sandow merely ignored the calls. It was higher to maintain quiet than probably lose in entrance of the group.
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Nevertheless, for most of the people at the moment Sandow was the top of power and health. Even as we speak, he’s thought-about the daddy of contemporary bodybuilding and serves because the mannequin for the vaunted Mr. Olympia award, which is awarded every year to the winner of bodybuilding’s prime prize. However how robust was Eugen Sandow? And the way did he construct his power? We put this health beneath the microscope beneath the Pioneer.
Reporters observe: It is value noting that whereas Sandow and his contemporaries had been sometimes called “powermen”, the occasions they entered had been extra efficiency exhibitions than the structured occasions we’ve got as we speak in fashionable strongman sports activities.
Sandows coaching
Eugen Sandow was a showman and advertising extraordinaire. Whereas this meant that he was an extremely thrilling performer, it additionally meant that he was susceptible to exaggeration and falsehood, each when it comes to his power and his coaching. Relying on which of his books you learn, he was both a sickly teenager who over time managed to construct the world’s most completely developed physique, or he was a lifelong athlete who skilled in wrestling and gymnastics earlier than shifting on to free weights.
We all know from his coaching that he used heavy and progressive weights. In 1894, the person himself briefly mentioned the train program in a e-book Sandow is a bodily train.
There, Sandow launched a wide range of workouts that look very acquainted to fashionable lifters. He used a heavy overhead press (each barbells and dumbbells), beginning with weights on the bottom. And for chest workouts, he used push-ups and crude types of dumbbell flyes. The menu additionally included bicep curls, sit-ups, and facet lunges.
Frustratingly, Sandow did not element his again and leg exercises, however we do know that he may do chin-ups with one finger and will do weighted harness lifts with lots of of kilos of weight.
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It is value noting that when Sandow skilled, the trendy massive triple, powerlifting again squat, bench press and deadlift weren’t frequent. If something, the overhead press was a very powerful method to enhance power.
Sandow was, after all, a showman, and, like lots of his period, his weekly appearances had been usually his exercises. Early strongmen didn’t max out their weights in performances for concern of failure, however they did assist preserve a powerful physique.
His shows of power usually targeted on 4 key actions. The primary was an overhead press of some kind, be it a barbell or, as his present advanced, a “human barbell” with viewers members sitting on both finish of the bar. Subsequent was a weighted stump, typically with unusual devices like a pony or a piano. (In response to custom, Sandow usually carried a piano and pianist above throughout the stage.)
In response to a number of biographies, he additionally carried out somersaults whereas standing whereas holding dumbbells in every hand, mentioned to weigh 56 kilos. Lastly, there was the “human bridge”, which Sandow used to help the burden of the animal or a lot of viewers members whereas holding the crab.
Sure, this was all uncommon, but it surely additionally helped preserve his physique.
Eugen Sandow power coaching
Surprisingly, Sandow hardly ever, if ever, competed in official weightlifting competitions. Even his breakthrough victories in opposition to strongmen Cyclops and Samson in 1889, when Sandow started advertising himself because the World’s Strongest Man, concerned chopping chains and utilizing different brute strongman males as an alternative of official lifts with a barbell.
Sandows’ personal selection reveals additionally targeted extra on showy lifts than athletic endeavors. Power historian David Willoughby explored Sandows’ profession within the 1970 Encyclopedia of Power, Tremendous athletes, and famous that his 269-pound bench press remained his heaviest completed with the barbell. Though spectacular, this report was damaged by lots of his contemporaries throughout his profession, together with Arthur Saxon, who allegedly carried out a 371-pound bench press. (As with most achievements of the time, these withdrawals are troublesome to validate.)
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In harness lifting, Sandow claimed to have lifted a 1,500-pound stone off the bottom and even included photos of this raise in his 1894 train e-book, however nobody may confirm this declare.
Fairly Unbelievable, Sandows 1897 e-book, Power and find out how to get it, included a passage the place he mentioned he lifted a 530-pound lion “as excessive as” his shoulders. The identical e-book additionally put Sandows’ highest stress at 300 kilos, which Willoughby and others have disputed.
How does Eugen Sandow evaluate to as we speak’s athletes?
It is arduous to match Sandows’ power to as we speak’s athletes as a result of coaching has advanced. Though he’s credited with the 269-pound bent press, this raise has fallen dramatically out of favor with as we speak’s powerlifters, due partially to how troublesome it’s to be taught. Moreover, there isn’t any definitive visible proof that Sandow’s whole weight is even correct.
Nevertheless, some fashionable strongmen follow the bent-over press, together with 2019 World’s Strongest Man Martins Licis, who deadlifted round 200 kilos in 2019. (Though it is necessary to notice that Licis says it is not a lot of part of his exercise. Focus. )
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If we take Sandows’ 300-pound overhead press critically (and there are causes to not), he as soon as once more pales compared to fashionable strongmen. In the present day, it’s common to see athletes deadlifting over 400 kilos overhead utilizing barbells or 200 plus pound dumbbells in every hand.
Essentially the most spectacular determine, which Sandow claimed however was additionally by no means confirmed, was his 1,500-pound rock harness raise. American strongman Steve Schmidt at present holds the USAWA harness world report with a deadlift of three,515 kilos. Even 18th-century English strongman Thomas Topham, who preceded Sandow, has lifted a harness of 1,836 kilos.
Sandow in perspective
So was Sandow ever “the strongest man on earth”? No. He wasn’t even the strongest man of his technology if you have a look at among the lifts that Arthur Saxon did.
So why was Sandow thought-about so distinctive? That is simpler to reply. Sandow was one of many first public energy athletes to have physique builders. On the time, many strongmen had been heavy and massive, however lacked muscular definition. Sandow was lean and muscular and knew find out how to play to these strengths. Others had been stronger, however Sandows’ actual power was his marketability.
Featured picture: Wikimedia Commons / Public Area
